Kristen E. Humphrey

Meet the Planning Staff

Kristen Humphrey joined Planning in August of 2017 as an Infrastructure and Development Planner. In this position, she worked primarily to assist the department in its role within the Maryland Public School Construction Program. In early 2018, Kristen began researching, writing, and editing articles for Planning’s e-newsletter, Planning Practice Monthly.

Beginning in January 2020, she took on a new role as Local Assistance and Training (LAT) Planner, coordinating with the division manager and the regional planners in implementing Planning’s education and outreach efforts. These include assisting local jurisdictions to further good land use and infrastructure planning, economic and community development, and resource conservation/management. In this new position, Kristen has taken on a lead role in production of Planning Practice Monthly, and is supporting the LAT team in stakeholder meetings, regional workshops, future MPCA conferences, and the development of models and guidelines, among other responsibilities.

Kristen came to Planning from the non-profit and private sectors, having most recently worked in the residential solar industry. Prior to that, she was a Program Coordinator with Baltimore’s well known Neighborhood Design Center (NDC) working to revitalize Baltimore’s neighborhoods by engaging residents and community leaders in the re-design and adaptive reuse of abandoned buildings, vacant lots, beleaguered streetscapes, parks, and open spaces. For nearly a decade she helped some of Baltimore’s most challenged neighborhoods transform these spaces into vibrant places to live, work, and play.

Kristen earned her bachelor’s degree in Conservation and Resource Studies from the University of California Berkeley and her master’s degree in Landscape Architecture at Morgan State University. A native Baltimorean, she has lived Japan where she taught English in the first year of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program, and hopes to someday travel to South America, Australia, and New Zealand. Her passions are reading, writing, movies, her pets, friends, family (not in that order), and most especially her daughter, Julianna.

She may not be new to Planning, but we welcome her to her new role!